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Will they or won’t they?

Andrew Alexis Varvel, Bismarck

President Elect Joe Biden calls to “achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country.” Vice President Elect Kamala Harris calls to “root out systemic racism in our justice system and society.”

Do they really comprehend what they are saying? It appears to me that rooting out systemic racism ought to mean something other than a witch hunt against subliminal racism, subconscious bias, and sundry perceived microaggressions at the behest of morally compromised institutions that have historically been the very ones to promote racism as a matter of policy.

Given how Interstate 94 is a concrete example of systemic racism because its construction destroyed the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, any call to “root out systemic racism” would necessarily mean rerouting I-94 to restore Rondo.

Given how the Dakota Access Pipeline is a concrete example of systemic racism because it plowed straight through lands sacred to the Lakota, Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, any call to “root out systemic racism” would necessarily mean rerouting the pipeline to steer clear of Standing Rock.

Given how Garrison Dam and Oahe Dam are concrete examples of systemic racism because they inundate rich river bottom farmland of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Lakota peoples, any call to “root out systemic racism” would necessarily mean replacing these dams with some better alternative form of flood control so that Missouri River bottom farmland can be restored to these peoples.

If the Biden-Harris administration were truly serious in their call to “root out systemic racism,” they would order the Justice Department to investigate cold cases of lynching as a matter of course. This could be done through executive order, without any new law passed by Congress. First degree murder has no statute of limitations. Although the vast majority of these lynch mob murderers made of flesh and blood are long since dead, several presently existing corporations have perpetrated first degree murder across state lines. If Alfonso Rodriguez can be sentenced to death for his murder of Dru Sjodin, it would be unfair to not sentence a murderous corporation to death through federal confiscation of its assets.

The question is not whether the Biden-Harris administration can prosecute these cold cases. The question is whether the Biden-Harris administration will prosecute these cold cases. So, will they or won’t they? That is the question.

It would insult the intelligence of the American people if the Biden-Harris administration attempts to impose unconstitutional reparations for ex post facto crimes when corporate perpetrators of first degree murder, which they called lynching at the time, go completely unpunished. Billionaires and corporate magnates are showing themselves to be more than happy to force other people to pay for their own guilt, and then call it reparation.

When President Elect Biden and Vice President Elect Harris say they will “root out systemic racism”, this could become a call for justice to be implemented by investigating and prosecuting cold cases of lynching. Or, this could become a planned reign of terror to subject Americans to humiliating reeducation seminars in the name of Diversity.

The new administration had better seek justice rather than hunt for racist witches.

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